Gold flecked eyes, wild and tired –
A simple word: “Quiet.”
Old, dirty rags envelope hope, crying
Waves pushing and shoving unrelenting, rocking
Falling forward, falling back, swaying with the murky sea
I want to go home. Home? Shall I climb through the sailor’s wardrobe,
and see if Aslan should await me?
Swollen feet pressed to wooden planks, but not of an apple tree.
I caress the wailing bundle and darkness lays out his blanket,
An ominous comfort.
Oh! How far we’ve come! Grass shoots up from spring,
Water crashing into sand, the land, it’s green.
A colour long since forgotten, restored
The way has been replenished and the past has been ignored
“A few simple tests, Ma’am, humanity depends on it,”
And what am I to do? As lines escape my body
Twice per day, they said until my arms turn blue
Try the legs! Oh! But my legs will turn blue too!
But the fate of humanity
Depends on you.
The children scream and run for cover, the young girl,
She’s it. She chases the other children, innocent and small
She tags the towering boy, he laughs and rolls through
The tall grass. The children’s numbers grow with time,
“It was all worth it,” I hear them say. The wind tickles my spine,
The clouds puff into the sky, the golden gleaming sun cooks
My skin gently. I lie like pillows on a bed, gazing through glass
Across the fields of green, the question stroking my mind:
“Was it worth it?” my daughter curled up next to me, a clear
Answer tugs at my mind, “Yes.”
But some did not make it here, they were sized and
Sorted for their talents, betrayed by their lack of
Fertility. Unwanted, sent back, terminated out of
desperation. But some were saved like a bag of unused nails,
Ready to be hammered into society – “Get out.” hung loosely
In the tall green grass. A promiseland, an exquisite oasis, a
Second chance, a new beginning, an ethereal sanctuary.
Unlearning, the question hangs, “Should we have been saved?”
The answer indoctrinates us all, the answer – I am deserving –
Lingering.